Healing Touch
by ShadowShock
Summary: They didn't know its name, only that it was like a headache but wasn't. Yet with change comes new opportunities and Leo is determined to get to the bottom of Splinter's malady once and for all. Good thing he has brothers to help him out. Slice of life set in 2k3 right after Things Change.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I hereby make no claim to have ownership of the logo Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or TMNT or anything related to said series. This privilege first belonged to Eastman and Laird though now it is the corporate property of Nicktoons. They need not worry as this is not a paid work nor do I demand payment for being read or hosted. I believe that covers everyone's concerns?

This story was inspired by my sister who, while we were re-watching the first episode Things Change, suddenly pointed at Splinter placing a hand over his eye and telling me "that's exactly what you do!" It (_didn't_) help that I had just had a bad migraine just a few days ago. Which got me thinking... And thus, this story was born. So, thanks sis!

**March 2015:** Eeep! Rereading through this I found some spelling mistakes that I thought I'd already fixed... my bad! They should be fixed now.

* * *

"Sensei,"

Splinter opened his eyes and looked up to see his eldest moving around the end of the couch, one of the first things the turtles had rescued from their old home. Leonardo carried a box in both hands and he crouched down in front of Splinter, tipping the box carefully to show its contents.

Splinter's nose twitched at the gentle aroma that reached him even as he caught sight of the ceramic shapes. "Ah, I see my tea set has survived!"

He was genuinely pleased. Tea was one of the rare things he allowed himself to indulge in, although there were times it was an absolute necessity and not a luxury when raising four sons. The only problem was that, unlike food, it didn't readily spoil and most tea shops were loathe to throw it away. He usually had to acquire it with great patience and by going out of his way, often being satisfied with less then perfect rejects from higher end cafes.

Leonardo carefully pushed the cups aside and pulled aside the shredded paper that one of the turtles had thoughtfully packed around the ceramic teapot and cups. "We weren't able to salvage everything. A lot of the stock had fallen off the shelves and were soaked from the floodwaters."

The unspoken '_sorry_' laced his son's voice as he showed Splinter the battered cans and jars of loose and bagged tea that had been saved. Splinter shook his head and reached out to place a hand on Leonardo's shoulder.

"Do no be discouraged, my son, with things outside of our control. We have done the best we can with the knowledge we have. My most prized possessions made it out safely with their lives and that is all that matters." He tightened his fingers for emphasis and was rewarded with a smile from Leonardo. Good; the thoughts had been easy to push aside this time. "Everything else is replaceable. All it takes is time."

Suddenly there was a loud bang of metal, followed by a clatter of things falling and skating across the brick flooring. Splinter's ears twitched at the sound and he automatically tried to place it. Most likely one of the cooking pots and what sounded like the bamboo training poles.

"_Ow_! Raph, that's my toe, shell for brains!"

"And here I thought it was something important."

"That is important!"

"I thought that was your mouth. You don't seem to use anything else."

"Oh yeah?"

There was a loud smack of skin on shell and Raph let out a yelp that was almost covered up in more things falling to the floor - the bamboo poles again. Splinter couldn't help but sigh at the sounds of the impromptu wrestling match. he removed his hand from Leonardo's shoulder and pressed it up against his left eye as his ears drooped. He had hoped the throbbing pain wouldn't come until later, but the loud noises from his sons seemed to have quickened the phase.

"Master Splinter?" Concern laced Leonardo's voice. "Your head is bothering you again, isn't it?"

Splinter dropped his hand from his head and gave his son a wane smile. "It is not too bothersome right now my son, thank you."

Michelangelo and Raphael chose that particular moment to knock into something with their tumbling and the resulting crash of household items nearly drowned out Raphael's startled shout. "Whoa, Mikey! You okay?"

Splinter winced again, as much from the pain it cause as from the thought of more broken items, and couldn't prevent his ears from pinning back briefly. The noise most definitely was not helping. He started rubbing at a few pressure points around his wrists to help ease the pain, though at this stage it was often too late to stop it entirely.

Leonardo stood, the box in his hands again. "Some of the tea you use to help with the headaches has survived. How about I make you some Master Splinter?"

Splinter inclined his head in agreement. "Yes, Leonardo, that would be most welcomed."

"Okay, give me a few minutes to get the water heated up."

The pale green turtle moved behind Splinter, jumping down to the ground floor. Splinter heard him walking along the outside circle of the room's design, heading towards the far side where one of the rooms had quickly been designated as the kitchen area on the first day. Donatello had managed to get power going - a crude fast job according to him, no matter what the others said - and Michelangelo had found their old portable electric burner with single minded determination. And perhaps a little muscle help from Raphael to move debris in their old, ruined home.

It wasn't much and it's spot on the floor was inconvenient with no counters or other helpful kitchen items nearby. But it had allowed them to have hot food and water for the past four days, something that made managing four teenage sons all that much more possible. It certainly was better than where they had started, Splinter was quick to remind himself.

Splinter twitched his ear as he heard Leonardo's quiet steps slow down to a stop before the kitchen doorway. Hushed whispers were exchanged, too quietly for even him to make out the words, but telling the voices apart had long become second nature for him. First Leonardo, his tone commanding. Then Raphael overlapped by Michelangelo, first indignant then grudgingly agreeing after a quick word from Donatello. When the footsteps continued on towards the kitchen, Raphael and Michelangelo went back to work with Donatello, though with considerably less noise then before.

Splinter smiled. Perhaps it was still possible to stave off the worst of the headache with some tea. It might also be prudent to see if he could find a quiet spot in their new home where he could still keep an ear on his sons without their noise becoming overwhelming. But it was hard. deeply ingrained instincts wanted to keep him where he could be constantly aware of his sons and their suroundings. While they were distracted with cleaning up and reclaiming a home for themselves, he would be staying alert with his ears and mind for any danger that should approach them while they were most vulnerable.

He was just grateful that none of the turtles had developed the same pulsing pain that he was burdened with. It was so similar to a headache but he knew that it was something else. Just what had puzzled him and his sons.

Heavy footsteps alerted Splinter to the approach of Raphael. His weight fell more heavily than normal and so when he came around the pillar Splinter wasn't surprised to see him holding their coffee table. He had the short wooden table pinned awkwardly to his right side, his left hand gripping one of the legs tightly to keep the corner from digging into his thigh with every step.

"Here, Master Splinter," he said gruffly as he set the table down, pushing it with a foot to put it near the couch. "Figured you might need that for your tea."

Splinter smiled up at him. "Thank you, Raphael, you are most considerate."

Raphael scowled and tightened his shoulders mulishly, but years of practice allowed Splinter to see the pleased spark hidden in his eyes as his son walked off. Splinter shook his head at the display. He still wasn't sure how to handle the iron will that covered Raphael's sensitive spirit - especially when the gruff turtle would hardly acknowledge it himself. The increased frequency with which he fought with his brothers and even Splinter himself was a sure sign that something had to change soon. Perhaps-

Light footsteps rapidly approaching him from behind caused him to pause in his thoughts and it came as no surprise when his youngest launched himself up onto the ledge and cleared the couch with hardly a break in his stride.

"Hey, Master Splinter!" The exuberant near-shout did nothing to help his aching head. But he only smile patiently as Michelangelo cheerfully spun in place and showed off what he was holding. "Your training dummy made it out alive! Well, as alive as one can be with a torn arm and er, looks like one of those mouser robots tried to eat his leg and some of the stitches are busted..." Michelangelo's fingers probed the torn fabric in the cloth shoulder of the dummy, frowning in disappointment before shrugging and focusing on Splinter again. "But hey! For being under a lot of cement and piping, he came out pretty well! Where do you want him?"

"Hmmm..." Splinter rubbed his chin in thought, thankful that the pain wasn't so severe as to prevent thought. While the whole area was a perfect setup for a training ground, Splinter could see that he now had the room to have proper storage for their ninjitsu equipment. But he had yet to fully explore their new home and wanted to withhold his decision until his sons had time to settle.

Besides, Michelangelo was right; the training dummy had plenty of ripped stitching. He gestured to the floor beside the couch. "Leave it here with me, and see if Donatello has been able to locate my sewing supplies. I would like to fix this up before putting it back to use."

"Sure thing, Master Splinter." Michelangelo chirped, propping the dummy up against the side of the couch before launching himself back off the edge. Splinter watched as he did a midair flip before hitting the ground in a roll and bouncing up to his feet. Yes, his footwork was improving, but Splinter knew he could do better. Perhaps a lesson on balance would do all the turtles good as well as help them center themselves after all the chaos and stress of moving.

Movement drew his eye and Splinter shifted on the couch in order to see the opposite side of the lair where Leonardo was coming out from the hexagonal doorway, bearing a steaming pot of tea and two tea cups on a wooden tray. He wisely took the bridge to cross the body of water, avoiding his three active brothers near the front entrance of the lair. Splinter shifted his attention to them and the hastily made piles of items, furniture and equipment. Fear of encroaching floodwaters and other dangers had caused Splinter and his terrapin sons to be less considerate of organization, often grabbing the first thing that they could find and piling it into the Sewer Slider. It was then dropped off at the new home location with as much consideration in order to get back quickly.

Even from here Splinter could see the distress the mess caused Donatello from the way he would nibble at the corner of his lip, brow furrowed slightly. Yet his body language spoke of determination and the friendly shell jostling he was giving Michelangelo at the moment was evidence that he wasn't too stressed.

The faint clatter of ceramic alerted him to Leonardo's arrival as the young turtle made his way up the convenient ramp to the half level up that the couch and Splinter occupied. Splinter settled back down on the couch properly as Leonardo set the tray on the coffee table and poured the tea.

"Here you are, Master Splinter." Leonardo handed him one of the cups, keeping the chipped one for himself. Splinter took the cup and breathed in the sweet yet spicy ginger scent. "Thank you, Leonardo."

"I hope it helps." Leonardo cradled his cup carefully with his thick fingers as he crossed his legs and sat down.

"It already has," Splinter reassured him as he took a sip. It wasn't quite as good as most of the teas made by Leonardo, but he could hardly blame the terrapin. Leonardo enjoyed making tea as much as Splinter enjoyed drinking them but even he couldn't do much about their situation. "Tell me, did you have much trouble at the old lair today?"

Leonardo swallowed a mouthful of tea. "Not too much. We had a little trouble clearing the rest of the cave in with the roof still unstable. We still were able to clean out most of the half of the lair that was blocked off. But the most trouble was... well, trying to find something that had not been ruined from the water flooding in, or crushed under concrete."

Visibly deflated, Leonardo rubbed a finger over the chipped part of the cup. It hadn't been chipped a week ago, Splinter knew. In fact he could remember when they had acquired it because it had been Leonardo who had found it on one of their scavenging trips. The young turtle had not been able to grasp why someone would be willing to throw away something perfectly functional, no matter how much Splinter had tried to explain it.

Splinter took another sip before lowering his cup, letting the warmth seep into his hands. "Do not fret over it my son. You did the best you could."

"Yes, but..." Leonardo sighed and shifted his legs, letting them sprawl out in front of him as he set his cup down so he could rub at his arm. "I just wish that we didn't have to lose so much. I mean, it's bad enough that we got kicked out of our home, but we actually needed most of that stuff!"

Splinter hid a knowing smile behind another sip of tea, hearing more than just the spoken words. It was distressing to his eldest son to see his brothers having to scramble again for simple everyday necessities, like the blankets and mattresses that had been ruined under the collapsed stone. Lowering his cup, he looked at Leonardo, waiting until the turtle turned his eyes up to meet his own. "It will be a set back, yes, and probably a bit miserable at first. But I do not think it will be as difficult as before, and there is much more potential here then there ever was in our old lair."

Just then, somewhere behind them, Michelangelo clapped his hands loudly. "Donnie! Donnie! I got it!"

"Did you find it, Mikey?"

"What? No, no not that! But you remember telling me I couldn't bring home another TV screen?"

"Is this going somewhere?" Raphael's rough voice cut in.

"Yes! Yes it is because you, Donnie, told me that there wasn't any more room on the wall for another TV screen. Well, what about now, genius?"

"Which I believe, Michelangelo is already working on." Splinter commented with a chuckle.

Leonardo finally let go of his disappointment and gave a snort of amusement, smiling. "Leave it to Mikey to figure out how to get entertainment up and running before the plumbing."

"It is his talent," Splinter agreed, setting his finished cup on the table and reaching for the pot.

"Here, father, let me get that." Leonardo sat up and grabbed the pot before Splinter could touch it, carefully pouring Splinter another cup.

"Arigato," Splinter told him simply, allowing his son to finish before picking his cup back up.

"Has it helped any?" Leonardo asked as he set the cup down, peeking up at Splinter.

Splinter paused to think over that question before inclining his head. "Yes, I do believe it has faded enough to not be so painful."

Leonardo opened his mouth to say something, but just then there was the sound of water sloshing and a curtain of water rained down behind him.

"Whoa, that's cold!" Leonardo yelped as he jumped up, knocking over his cup of tea as he sprang away from the freshly made puddle. He brushed at his leg with one hand before craning his head up. "Where did that come from?"

"I believe it is that pipe near the ceiling." Splinter pointed up to an orange pipe jutting out from the curving ceiling. He looked back toward the puddle still spreading on the floor and gave a sniff. "It smells of stagnant, old water but doesn't seem to be any type of sewage."

"Huh. I wonder if it's part of an old drainage system that's not in use anymore." Leonardo walked up to the edge of the water and crouched down, poking at it with his finger. "I'll have to check it out with Donnie, see if we have to redirect it or if we can just cap it off."

"Perhaps that should wait until you are finished getting everything from the old lair?" Splinter held his tongue against the automatic order for the turtle to wash his hands, immediately. His son wasn't a toddler anymore.

"We're almost done, I think." Leonardo stood back up, brushing his hand against his shell before bending down to pick up his tipped cup. "There wasn't much left after our last trip today, so it'll probably just take one more trip to get the last of the stuff. I doubt we'll even need everyone for the last trip."

"I would advise waiting until tomorrow," Splinter said, leaving enough room for Leonardo to make his own decision. "All four of you have been busy all day with cleaning up our new home and trips to the old one. It is getting quite late."

Leonardo nodded in agreement. "That would be for the best. Speaking of which, I better get Mikey started on dinner already seeing as we're down to one burner."

Leonardo gently placed his tea cup on the table before moving around the couch and dropped off the edge of the half level and making his way over to his brothers. Soon his voice was mixing in with the other turtles. Splinter closed his eyes, breathing in the scent of his tea and relishing in the sounds of his sons. A clattering of dishes and pots and then two of the voices moved away from the others towards the kitchen.

"Hey, Sensei."

Splinter opened his eyes to see Donatello approaching from the right, skirting his way around the puddle of water soaking into the bricks, a book tucked under one elbow.

"Donatello." Splinter tipped his head slightly. "Were you able to find my sewing kit?"

"What?" Donatello blinked, the look of him switching subjects all too familiar to Splinter. "Oh, no not yet. Sorry, sensei."

"No need to apologize," Splinter gently reminded his son, even though he knew Donatello wasn't trying to apologize for something out of his control. He lifted a paw and gestured at the book. "What do you have there?"

"I found my medical book. You know, the one I found just last week." Donatello dropped down onto the floor and crossed his legs before propping the book across his feet. Splinter again hid a smile behind his tea cup as he saw that the olive-green turtle was unknowingly mirroring Leonardo's posture of a few minutes ago. Olive green fingers leafed through the paper pages nimbly. "Leo said you were having one of your long headaches again. I thought I could try to figure out what it was. This book is a whole lot newer than the last one I tried to use. That is, if it isn't too bad?"

Donatello looked up questioningly at Splinter and he shook his head, gesturing for his son to continue. "It has eased off and hopefully will not come back."

Donatello found the page he was looking for, tracing his hand down the page. "Okay, so lets make sure the symptoms are still the same. It's like a headache, right?"

"Yes, except it seems to center here, behind the eye" Splinter lifted his left paw to cover his eye.

"Right," Donatello nodded without looking up. He had watched Splinter make the gesture whenever he was having an episode. "And the pain comes and goes still?"

As Splinter answered his son patiently, clarifying a few of the less common points, Donatello pulled out a pen from his belt. Keeping his place with one hand, he flipped to the back of the book where there were a few blank pages and scribbled down some notes. It only took a few minutes to go over what little Splinter could tell him and then the purple masked turtle was flipping from the index to various sections of the book, muttering under his breath impatiently when the first three results didn't seem to be what he was after.

"No, I'm pretty sure a stroke is not what you have. Definitely not after you had them this long... Radiation poisoning? No, I'm not even sure the ooze was radioactive; the canister certainly doesn't have any residue..." Donatello let out a huff and allowed the book to stay open as he straightened up, scowling and rubbing at his chin in thought. "Sorry to waste your time sensei... I thought maybe with a little more up to date information..." He sighed and poked at the book, flipping the pages at random.

"Do not despair, Donatello," Splinter told him, getting up and walking over to the turtle to lay a hand on his shoulder. "The material you have, while useful, is perhaps still too outdated. You have the right idea and method, but it is quite possible that all you need is access to much more recent material."

The words had more effect on the turtle than Splinter was intending, for the olive-green ninja suddenly perked up and the master could see the sharp gleam that ignited in the brown eyes. "You mean like through the internet? Shell, come to think of it, I never really was able to give it much of a try at our old lair was I? There was so many other things to work on at the time and our connection was always fluctuating. I noticed today that there are some of those new fiber optic cables running right outside this lair's wall. They'd be perfect for high speed internet connections!"

Splinter blinked at the rapid flow of words. Sometimes Donatello would talk just as fast as Michelangelo when a subject caught his attention. And while it was embarrassing for Splinter to admit that he had a hard time grasping the inner workings of any technology more complicated then a TV remote, he considered it a blessing to have a son that could work and create things with technology as if by magic. He only wished that said such son would learn to include instructions with such inventions. "If that is what gets you the answers you seek, my son, then yes."

He took a sniff of the air, smelling a mixture of cooked eggs and vegetables as well what smelled like canned beans. Clever Michelangelo, to use up the perishables as quickly as possible now that they no longer had a working cooler. "It seems like Michelangelo has managed to make something edible out of our surviving supplies.

"Come." He gave Donatello's shoulder a comforting squeeze before turning and heading for the ramp. "We have all had a busy day. Let us get some food and give our bodies and minds some rest."

Donatello looked up, but before he could reply Raphael's voice cut across the open lair as he waved near the kitchen doorway.

"Yo Donnie, Master Splinter, food's ready!"

"Coming," Donatello replied to both Splinter and Raphael. He closed the book and tucked it under his arm again before he vaulted over the edge rather then crowd his rat father on the ramp. "I sure am starved. I think I could even eat Leo's cooking."

"Let us hope we do not need to test those words," Splinter chuckled as he lead the way towards the kitchen where the sounds of dishes clattering and happy voices spilled out.

Yes, he was troubled with pain. But he didn't care; he was blessed with four sons that shone as brightly as any sun.


	2. Chapter 2

**Personal Note**: And here is part two! The whole thing got away from me and turned out much longer then I expected it to. I thought about splitting it into a third part but I couldn't find a good spot to do it so... enjoy the long read! I've done my best to keep all the characters masculine but the hardest part was remembering that I was setting the story near the beginning of the series and how that would effect how they interact with each other.

Several of this I took from my own experience and I've listed two of the resources at the end of the story.

* * *

"Good, Leonardo. Lift your leg up higher on form five, and push into your adversary's space harder on eight."

Leo let Splinter's words flow with his movements. Smoothly restarting his katas without a pause, paying close attention to the two that Sensei had mentioned, he concentrated on getting the flow and moves right.

When he finished the complete set without any more corrections from Splinter, he felt a small smile of satisfaction as he turned around. "How did I do that time... Master Splinter?"

Master Splinter wasn't even looking at him, but was again holding his left eye with a paw, his right eye closed as well. Leo looked down at the staff in the rat's right hand, noticing the pronounced knuckles from the tight grip Splinter had on the wood.

Leo straightened up and quickly moved over to Splinter's side, frowning. If he had known Splinter wasn't feeling better from his headache earlier, he wouldn't have asked for a brief training lesson before bedtime. "Master Splinter? Another headache?"

"The same one, I believe," Splinter sighed, cocking his head to one side so he could look up at Leo with his right eye. "My apologies, my son. I do not think we can continue."

"Don't worry, Sensei." Leo quickly assured him. He admired Splinter's ability to remain courteous no matter how painful his headaches were. "Can I help you to your room?"

Splinter hesitated for a moment before nodding his head, looking fragile. Grateful to be able to do something, Leo gently placed an arm around Splinter's shoulders and helped guide him around the edge of the pool in the center, aiming for the door on the east side of the lair.

When they reached the steps Splinter paused for a second, gathering his breath. Only when he was ready did Leo help him up the steps, reaching out with a toe to push aside a piece of crumbled masonry that had somehow been missed during the initial clean up.

They crossed the angled doorway into his father's new room and Leo helped him to the edge of his bed on the floor where Splinter sat down on with a soft sigh of relief, his tail curling up.

"Be right back," Leo told him, standing up and heading back for the threshold. Raph and Don had earlier in the week strung a rope across the top and now Leo picked up the folded tattered blanket nearby, throwing it across the rope and stretching it out. It helped to cut off most of the light coming in from the main lair. Moving to the corner, he knelt down and felt the cord for the small butterfly lamp. Mikey had found and patched it up as a present to Splinter ages ago. Despite the chipped wings and missing antennas Splinter always had it around. Finding the roll switch, Leo pushed it and the soft, warm, colorful shards of light lit up the room with a click.

When he turned around his heart clenched at the sight of his father and sensei curled up on his side, right hand still clenching his walking stick tightly while the other hand stayed clamped over his left eye. He padded over to the bed edge quietly, knelt down and reached a hand out but hesitated, not quite touching the rat.

"Splinter, can I get you some tea?" he asked softly, wishing there was something else he could do and yet knowing there wasn't much. Splinter cracked an eye open.

"Yes, my son, if you please. That would be some comfort," Splinter said, slipping into Japanese.

Leo finally let his hand fall on Splinter's shoulder briefly. "Okay, I'm going to go make you some then."

He slipped out of the room along the blanket-turned-curtain edge, trying not to let any light from the main lair in. He made a straight line for the kitchen room and soon had the tea kettle filled with water and sitting on the electric burner. He was tempted to grumble under his breath as he crouched down in front of the burner. All the times that he had to use it, it felt like this electric burner heated up far slower then an open fire would.

"Leo?"

He looked up from the mesmerizing view of the tea kettle to see Donnie standing at the doorway edge. "Yeah?"

"Is Master Splinter okay?" Donnie asked, his eyes going to the tea tray that Leo had already laid out.

Leo grimaced and shook his head. "He's having a bad spell. It just... came all of a sudden like."

"That's what it seems to do most of the time," Don told him in a firm note and when Leo looked up at Don he found the brown eyes narrowing at him sharply.

Leo gave him a one shoulder shrug and sighed. "I know, it probably wasn't anything I did. But at the same time, there's nothing I can really do and... hey, Don?"

Donnie came into the room and crouched next to Leo, wrapping his arms around his knees to balance himself. "Hm?"

"Didn't you find your new medical book? Did you try looking it up?"

It was Don's turn to sigh. "Already did. Wasn't anything new. If we want to get to the bottom of this, I'd probably have to do an internet search."

Leo poked at the kettle, frowning at the still cold metal. They had all been busy the last couple of days, making trips to the old lair, cleaning up the new lair and generally trying to survive.

Had it really been barely a week? It certainly felt a whole lot longer then that. He scrubbed a hand across his eyes and brought his mind back to the matter at hand. Getting access to more information. Every problem can become a solution, every obstacle an advantage.

Leo hesitated, chewing his bottom lip for a second as he thought. "Could you... do that now?"

Don jerked his head up in surprised. "You mean tonight?"

"I don't want to get started on something big tonight," Leo hastily told him. The last thing he needed was Donnie not getting enough sleep. Then who would help him deal with Mikey and Raph? "But is there anyway you can do some sort of temporary internet patch? I'll help anyway I can."

Don opened his mouth to respond, then closed it as a thoughtful look crossed his face. Leo waited patiently and was rewarded five seconds later when Don started talking again. "Well, I do have my laptop and I'm pretty sure I saw my cabling kit in one of the piles, which has my hacking equipment... you know what, why not? I'll go get my laptop."

"Great." Leo felt his energy coming back. Finally, something to do. He gave the kettle one last poke, feeling some warmth in it before standing up. "Let me get Mikey to take the tea to Splinter, then we can get started."

Leo retrieved Mikey from the couch where he was playing on his Gameboy. The younger turtle whined at being pulled away from his game, but once he realized the tea was for a hurting Splinter, he gave in with a minimal amount of coercing. Twenty minutes later, Mikey had disappeared with the tray into Splinter's room. Leo was opening up Donnie's Linux laptop on the floor near to the lair entrance while Don was struggling to try and get one last inch out of the cable line he was working with.

"You're going to have to bring it closer, Leo," Don finally grumbled in defeat. "This is as close as I'll get it."

"That's fine." Leo obligingly picked up the laptop and shuffled on his knees over to where Donnie was sitting down. Resettling down on the floor he placed the laptop on his lap. "Anything I can do from here?"

"Not yet." Donnie frowned in concentration as he used a pair of pliers to strip away the protective coating around the cable and carefully separated the wires before inserting them into a clear cable plug. "Once I get this set up, though, I'll need you to tell me when the computer gets internet."

"Right." Leo leaned closer to the screen, checking the icons on the side. "When it's connected this globe icon turns green, right?"

"You got it," Donnie eyed the plug for a moment before nodding in satisfaction. Grabbing the pliers again, he set the plug at the very back of the tool and clamped down hard, crimping the wires into place. "Okay, here's this end. Plug it in for me while I go finish working on the other end."

Leo took the blue wire from his brother and obediently plugged it into the correct port on the laptop. Donnie stood up, slung his duffel bag over his shoulder and trotted around the end of the opening, following the cable back to where he had connected it to the main internet line running through the tunnels.

"Hey, whatcha doing?"

Leo looked up to see Raph making his way over to him, damp towel draped over his neck. His brother must have been cleaning up, Leo realized as he noted that Raph's pads and wraps were missing.

"Getting some internet." Leo decided to go for the simplest explanation.

"Oh?" Raph used the towel corner to wipe at some water pooling on his shoulder before coming to stand next to Leo. "What for? I didn't think that was part of your meditation routine."

Leo couldn't prevent the huff of annoyance from escaping his lips. Seriously, did Raph ever stop? "No, I thought Donnie could help me find what's wrong with Splinter."

Raph blinked in surprise, then plunked himself on the floor. "What's wrong with Splinter?"

Leo opened his mouth, ready to deliver a snap response about being observant like a ninja when he realized with a start that Raph hadn't been around when Splinter's bad headache had hit half an hour ago. Without a proper shower and just a bucket and wash rag to work with, it took longer to get properly cleaned up than with their old lair's shower and tub. Raph had probably just missed the whole thing. Leo quickly changed what he was about to say.

"Splinter is having one of his really bad headaches," he told his younger brother. Raph winced in sympathy. "I'm hoping that we can finally get to the bottom of it."

"Oh," was all Raph said and he made no effort to move. "Where's Mikey?"

"Taking care of Splinter - whoa," Leo grabbed the laptop when the cable got tugged on, moving the device precariously close to the edge of his lap. Another tug and he had to pick it up in his hands to keep it from crashing to the floor. "Donnie!"

Raph snorted in amusement. "It's his laptop."

"Sorry," came the muffled echo from the doorway. "Give me some more slack."

Leo got to his knees again and shuffled even closer, feeling the cold draft stronger near the door. "How's that?"

"Uh... little more? Little more... yeah, that's good."

Leo decided it was safer to set the laptop down on the floor and found himself sprawling on his plastron despite the chill he could feel coming up from the floor. Thank the heavens spring was just starting to end. It would have been terrible to try to fit into the new lair during the winter.

"So what're you waiting for?" Raph asked, shifting up alongside him and leaning against his shell. Leo grunted at the extra weight, but Raph was radiating heat that chased the chill away so he didn't knock him off.

Yet.

"Donnie's hooking up the cable to the city's internet grid right now and then we just have to wait for his program to get things connected. Once the internet light here turns green, we'll be in business."

"That sounds like a lot of waiting," Raph grumbled, shifting around. His shell edge dug into Leo's side and he gave Raph an elbow in reaction. Predictably, Raph didn't bother moving. "So what are you planning to do afterwards? How ya going to find any information?"

"We'll do a search of the symptoms." Leo frowned slightly and hoped Raph didn't question him any further. He really wasn't sure how to go about finding the name to something you really didn't know the name to. Even Donnie didn't seem too sure about what to do.

The screen flickered and Leo took a breath in but before he could say anything Raph was bellowing out the door. "Yo, Donnie, it's green!"

Leo pulled away his hand from his ear hole and twisted to look up at Raph with narrowed eyes. "Yell a little louder, why don't you? I don't think Splinter quite heard you!"

"I wasn't that loud!" Raph snapped back, digging a thumb into Leo's side, prompting the older turtle to squirm sideways to get away from Raph while at the same time reaching a hand out to shove him away. A dark scowl formed on Raph's face and Leo's eyes widened as he saw the dark green fist draw back.

"Not around my laptop!" Donnie's voice was sharp with his rarely used tone of command. "I will not have the two of you breaking it."

The end of his bo staff tapped against first Raph's arm, then Leo's. It was light tap, barely more then a forceful push but it's proximity to a pressure point sent a tingle in Leo's arm. Leo recoiled, pulling away from Raph and pushing up on his elbows to see Don scowling down at him and Raph with narrowed eyes, bo staff still in hand.

"Sorry, Don." Leo quickly apologized, rubbing at his arm. Really, he was. He never quite meant to get into a fight with Raph. He always tried to be the better turtle, the mature older brother. But he still couldn't figure out how Raph managed to get under his shell without him even realizing it.

Raph grunted, not really saying anything. But when Leo peeked at him from the corner of his eye he could see that the scowl was gone from his brother's face, a guarded look of what could possibly be guilt there instead. The fact that Raph was also rubbing at his arm mollified the remaining irritation Leo had against the him.

Donnie unslung his duffel bag and dropped it against the wall before sliding his bo staff behind his back. "Just get started on that search already. Raph, move over."

Raph obligingly shifted on the floor, allowing enough space for his older brother to sit between the two of them. Donnie sprawled his legs out in front of him while Leo opened the internet browser and started typing. When he was finished he looked up at Donnie questioningly, absently bundling Raph's towel under him.

Donnie leaned on his shell and Leo let out another grunt at the additional weight. Donnie's plastron, unlike Raph's, was cold from working out in the sewer tunnels. The weight suddenly increased and pressed him into the floor as Raph leaned against Don in order to get a look at the screen as well. Sometimes being a turtle with a shell was just too convenient for other people.

"Headache, pain behind eye... yeah, that looks good," Donnie said after reading the keywords Leo was using, easing up a little bit. "Give it a try."

Leo tapped the enter key, then let out a surprised huff of air as both Donnie and Raph leaned in again, eager to see the results. He wheezed, shifting slightly. "Geez, lay off, you two. Have you been scarfing down on bacon pizza or what?"

"You just needa work out more," Raph snapped. But he was distracted and there wasn't much bite to his words as the two turtles ease off Leo's back enough for him to breath properly.

Leo clicked on the first search result without being prompted, skimming the text that came up as quickly as he could in order to find the answer that much more quickly. When nothing jumped out at him, he forced himself to slow down and start over.

"Wait, what's it saying there, Donnie?" Raph leaned forward and pointed at the screen. Leo read at where his younger brother was pointing at and felt a concerned frown tug at his lips. "Possible emergency? Stroke?" He twisted to look up at Donnie on his right.

Donnie had that intense frown between his eyebrows that told Leo he was still working on a conclusion and was unhappy with the amount of information he had to work with. "This is the same thing I was finding in the books, but none of it seemed right for what Splinter had."

"It better not be," Raph muttered darkly.

Leo, catching a brief look at the list of headache related causes, could not agree more. He didn't think his family was ready to handle something like a tumor at this point. Not with Splinter; they still needed him. Leo still needed him. He tapped the backpage button before his imagination could run away with him. "Okay, not helpful. Next one!"

He felt the ghost of a presence come up behind him, familiar and warm, so he wasn't surprised when Mikey spoke up right beside him.

"Hey, whatcha guys up to?"

Donnie startled against Leo's side, jostling his arm and, more importantly, the hand that he was using on the laptop's touchpad as he tried to click on the next search result, ending up with a random one somewhere near the bottom. "Donnie!"

"Sorry, Leo." Donnie said automatically before reaching over his older brother to take a swipe at Mikey's shell as the sea-green turtle knelt down on Leo's left side. "Aren't you suppose to be with Splinter?"

"He was able to drink some tea, but it didn't seem to help much," Mikey reported, stifling a yawn as he shifted around for a moment before sliding his legs off to the side. "He eventually hinted that he wanted me to leave. I think he wants to deal with it himself. I'll check on him later before we go to bed."

Leo glanced up at him and noticed how tired Mikey looked, despite the curiosity in his blue eyes. He spoke up. "I'll do it, Mike."

"Sure, whatever." Mikey rubbed at his eyes while he waved his right hand in the air. "So, like I said before; whatcha doin'?"

"Looking up what's wrong with Master Splinter," Raph provided from the far right side of the group of turtles. "Of course, we'd figure it out if slo-mo typo Leo here would go a little faster."

"Hey," Leo started, half pushing himself up to glare at Raph over Don's knee. Mikey piped up at the same time, talking over him and preventing him from arguing his point with Raph. "Oh really? You mean you've figured out what is happening with Splinter?"

"Not yet." Donnie elbowed Leo in his side. With a half grunt, half raspberry in Raph's direction he flopped back down on his stomach. Repositioning the towel Leo went back to being designated mouse clicker, commenting while he started scrolling down the page he was on. "We've barely checked out one website, Donnie. Let's see what this one says."

Mikey rubbed at his eyes again before finally giving in and tugging his bandana loose and letting it hang around his neck. He leaned forward, pressed his palms against the floor and rested his chin on Leo's left shoulder while he read. "What are we looking for?"

"Anything," Donnie shrugged. "Except this site doesn't seem to be saying anything different though..."

"Hey, what about that quiz?" Mikey pointed to a side bar where a picture of an overly-cheerful looking human nurse held a clipboard and pencil in her hands. Underneath it was the words "Identify your headache today!".

"Yeah, give that a try." Donnie agreed, shifting a bit back to give Raph some more personal space when the other turtle leaned in further.

"Okay." Leo moved the mouse over and clicked on the proper link. All four turtles waited tensely for the page to load and Leo blinked at the row of questions.

"How old are you?" Leo read off the first one before looking up at his brothers. "How do we answer that one? I mean, with the mutating and all..."

"Yeah, wouldn't he be somewhere in his twenties?" Raph hazard a guess.

"Well, technically yes," Donnie rubbed at his chin. "But the ooze seemed to mutate him according to his age so... I'd say put in thirty-five."

"That sounds better," Mikey agreed. "Otherwise, it's really weird thinking Splinter's barely four years older then we are."

"More like only two years older," Donnie corrected.

"Right, enough on that." Leo silently agreed with Mikey on the strangeness part. Stranger still that he had never really thought about it before. He quickly selected the appropriate age and moved on to the next question. "Next one, 'is your pain light, moderate, or severe?'"

With everyone contributing, they plowed through the rest of the eight questions easily enough. Despite the sidetracking conversations Donnie and Mikey got into, five minutes later Leonardo was clicking on the finish button.

Leo was sure they all held their breaths this time, Donnie again leaning onto his shell and pressing him into the floor. The box that soon popped up almost seemed too small to describe what was happening to their father at the moment.

"What's it say?" Raph grumbled from his position, pushing against Donnie's shoulder. "I can't see the screen from here!"

Leo started reading out loud to prevent getting piled on by both turtles. "Based on the answers you have selected, you are most likely experiencing a migraine headache. While this is not a serious condition, you should still check with your doctor to make sure there are not any other complications."

"Not serious?" Mikey's voice conveyed his disbelief, placing his hands up for air quotes. "They call curling up into a fetal position a 'not serious' condition?"

"They mean it's not going to end up killing you," Donnie pointed out. "Unlike some other types of headaches."

"Does it say anything else?" Raph didn't give Mikey a chance to respond but Leo saw the disturbed look Mikey gave Donnie. "Like how to treat it?"

"Ummm..." Leo looked over the small box of words again, then clicked back to the main page and started scrolling around. "I don't see anything..."

"Me neither." Mikey leaned more onto Leo's shoulder. "No redirecting links... nothing even on what a migraine is. It's like they assume you're supposed to know already."

"Why don't we do another search?" Donnie suggested from Leo's other side. "Now that we have an actual name, let's see what comes up."

"Fair enough," Leo agreed, and retreated back to the search page. He looked down at the keyboard as he started typing, not as confident as Donnie on the smaller keys. A snicker from Mikey alerted him that something wasn't going correctly. "Donnie, Leo's typing in nihongo!"

"What?" Leo blinked up at the monitor to see the garble of kanji nonsense in the search bar. "Uh, Donnie? What did I do?"

"Oh, sorry! Hold down the space bar will you?" Donnie reached a hand over Leo's shoulder and tapped another key. "Okay, that should fix it. Try again."

Leo cleared the search bar and started again, glancing up right away to make sure it was typing English words this time. Soon he was clicking on the first results for the search "migraine headaches."

Raph decided he didn't want to wait for any dictation and crowded close enough to Donnie to be able to read the screen, grunting "not so fast, Leo," under his breath when the oldest turtle scrolled down.

"This is it!" Mikey piped up excitedly when they were only a quarter way through the page, pointing at the list of symptoms. "I'm sure of it! That's exactly what Master Splinter is going through!"

"Thank heavens," Donnie breathed softly against Leo's ear, most likely not even aware he said the words out loud. "Just a migraine..."

"Great, great, so we know what it is! A migraine headache." Raph grumbled impatiently and rapped his knuckles against Leo's shell. "But I'm not seeing anything about how to treat it!"

"It seems like there's not much you _can_ do, Raph," Leo commented as he started to skim rapidly now that Raph was now too impatient to continue reading himself. "At least, not once the headache has begun... It looks like you prevent it more then anything by not triggering it with smells or certain foods."

"Foods?" Mikey's voice became worried and he focused on the screen again. "Oh no, it says foods are a common trigger for most people! What kinds of foods? Did I do that to him?"

"Whoa, calm down Mikey!" Donnie was quick to reassure their designated primary cook. "They also say that missing a meal can trigger a migraine."

"And stress," Leo read. "And not getting enough sleep. All of this has especially been happening in the past week."

"But he can't have all the triggers. I mean, it says so right here." Raph reached between Donnie's elbow and Leo's shoulder to point at the screen and read from the line he was after. "Everyone will have slightly different triggers so be sure to note which ones you have."

"Still..." Mikey didn't sound all that convinced. "It sounds like food triggers are common... Man, I could have given dad headaches just by feeding him the wrong foods!"

"Not your fault, not like we had much choice before. And if it is food, its just as simple as making sure he doesn't eat it," Raph grunted, sprawling across Leo's back in order to rap his knuckles on his younger brother's shell. Leo made a squeak of protest, grumbling that he was not a pillow, thank you very much.

"Yeah, you're certainly not soft and cuddly," Raph agreed and Leo could hear the smirk in his brother's voice before he settled even more on Leo's shell. "But you'll have to do till we can find some actual pillows."

Leo growled and started to shake Raph off of him, except Donnie placed a hand on his shoulder and reminded gently but firmly, "Not around my laptop."

With a huff and a glare over his shoulder at Raph, Leo turned back to the laptop and scrolled down some more. "Okay, I think we've got all we can get out of this page. Anything else we need to look up?"

"A list of all the foods that cause triggers, like a 'don't dare feed dad this or else'," Mikey pipped up right away.

"There has to be a way to at least treat the pain," Raph interrupted, tapping on Leo's shell insistently. "Do a search, do it now."

"Okay, okay!" Leo hesitated, then decided to open up a new webpage. He hated the clutter of multiple windows on the computer but he wasn't quite ready to loose the one web page that had given them the best help so far.

"Use the word 'alternative treatments'," Donnie suggested as Leo started typing. "Otherwise they'll probably suggest drugs that we don't have or want to really use on Splinter."

Leo nodded and added the keyword dutifully. Raph leaned more heavily on him as he peered at the screen intently, but for once Leo found himself not getting irritated. After all, he wanted to know what he could do for Splinter too. Seeing him in pain... wasn't the easiest thing.

When the results came up he studied the list, not quite sure what he was looking for. He had to take the time to read the little blurbs underneath the results. Even that didn't explain everything. Well, that's what younger brothers were for, right? "Raph? Anything you see here?"

"How's about that one about herbs and such?" Raph pointed to one of the results in the middle. "That's somethin' Splinter would get on board with."

Leo liked the idea about using herbs as well. It was always more natural then having to use any of the medicinal drugs, not that those were always evil either. He clicked on it.

"Hey, look! Ginger tea is suppose to help." Leo was very glad that the ginger tea had survived the old lair. "No wonder why Splinter was always asking for it."

"But there's not much else here," Mikey pointed out and Leo silently agreed, noting that he didn't even have to scroll at all to reach the end of the article. "What is butterbur?"

"Try somethin' else then." Raph pressured. "There's gotta be somethin'!"

Leo went back a page and scrolled down further to look at more of the results. Unfortunately many of them seemed to be all the same thing and he heard Raph grumble impatiently behind him. Leo himself felt a disappointment welling up in him but he also knew that there was no denying reality. If there was nothing there, there was nothing he could do about it.

He sighed and started to say, "Well, I guess that's-"

Mikey interrupted him. "Wait, wait. Click on the very last result."

Leo gave him an odd look. "What for? It doesn't look any different, looks like it's just going to list the same things."

"I know but..." Mikey's lip curled in a pout briefly. "Just give it one more try? Just on a chance."

When Donnie didn't say anything to correct Mikey about the odds and chances, Leo knew that Donnie was also hoping for a good result. Besides, he could never really say no to Mikey when he had that look and so he clicked.

"No," Don stated right away at the first suggestion on the slideshow page, amusement lacing his voice. "Just... no, we are not doing that."

"What?" Raph expressed the confusion that Leo felt. "It's just peppermint. That's totally fine, right?"

"Need I remind you about a certain incident eight years ago?" Donnie shot back, smirk fully on his face. "Sensei may be a mutant but he still has some rat attributes."

"Eight years ago?" Mikey cocked his head, brow furrowed in thought. "A lot happened eight years ago, Donnie... which event are you referring to?"

"A certain person dropped a can of peppermint oil right at Sensei's feet?"

Leo breathed in sharply, feeling a bit of sting on his cheeks as he suddenly remembered the incident in full detail. How could he forget about that one? "Oh... That... the whole thing spilled all over and Sensei couldn't smell anything for a whole month, could he?"

"Oh that time!" Mikey's eyes widened as he grinned. "How could I forget! I was able to slip so many things by because he couldn't smell! Poor Splinter."

"Way to go, Leo," Raph needled and Leo flexed a leg and kicked him with the heel of his foot. There wasn't much impact behind it, he couldn't get much leverage in the position he was in. But it was the thought that count.

"Right," Donnie nodded and smacked the hand that was reaching to tweak Leo's bandana tails. Raph's. "So no peppermint. See what the next one has."

Leo decided it was best to be the mature older turtle anyway and ignore Raphael. Clicking on the next item in the list, he read out the name at the top. "C...Q10?"

"C-_O_-Q ten," Donnie corrected and continued to explain at Leo's questioning look. "I think it's some kind of supplement. If I recall, it's an over the counter type so it won't be in any high security areas and should be relatively easy to get."

"Okay, we'll keep that one in mind then." Leo clicked the next button. There was a collective breath from all four turtles.

"Donnie, do you think...?" Mikey asked hopefully, hands clutching and balancing himself on Leo's shoulder as he pressed in closer.

"I... don't see why not. The pressure points Sensei taught us work just as well."

"I don't recognize some of these," Leo pointed out, slightly unsure on using an untested point on his sensei. They all knew how harmful pressure points could be.

"But those are still in line with the gall bladder points," Raph pointed out helpfully. "They should be fine."

"I bet I can find all of them!" Mikey chirped. "Raph, lemme see your face!"

"Wha - Mike!" Raph barely had time to squawk in protest as Mikey reached over Leo and yanked on Raph's head. Raph quickly rebalanced himself on Leo's carapace with his elbows and forearms, growling. "Watch it, you knucklehead!"

Leo protested at the sudden shifting of weight on his back as well. "Hey, Mikey, Raph! Go somewhere else!"

"Oh chill out," Mikey fired back at both of them even as he eased his grip on his older brother's face and started feeling around with his fingers, checking the screen. "Yo, Leo, make the picture bigger will you?"

"Uhh," Leo blinked, his irritation thoroughly redirected as he looked from the keyboard to the screen, not quite sure how to do that. Donnie grunted, slid an arm over Leo's shoulder and pushed Leo's hand away from the mousepad. Moving and clicking and then tapping a button on the keyboard Donnie soon brought up a full screen view of the picture. "How's that, Mikey?"

"Perfectly radical,"

"Mikey, that doesn't even make any sense," Raph objected, then pulled back sharply when Mikey's thumb poked his cheek. "Ow, that was one of them."

"Sorry. Now hold still, Raph."

Leo looked over his shoulder and was silently amazed at the expression of focus on his spirited brother's face. Mikey carefully probed around Raph's face, feeling for the slight indents that marked most pressure points or watching Raph's face for any indication of sensitivity. Raph was being remarkably cooperative as well, though from the shifting Leo could clearly feel on his carapace it was just a barely thing.

Leo propped his chin on one hand while he drummed on the floor with his other, unable to do anything but wait through the minute it took for Mikey to cover all the points on the face. Finished with those, they briefly looked at the other points but they were familiar enough with the ones in the hands and feet.

"Alright!" Mikey pushed Raph away and jumped to his feet. "I'm going to go try this on Splinter right now!"

"Hey, wait," Raph called after Mikey, using Leo's shell to push himself to his feet. "You'll probably forget how to do it right, I'm coming with you."

Within seconds the two younger terrapins had slipped into Splinter's room and quiet descended into the big lair.

"Ah, finally." Leo pushed himself up to his knees and arched his back, stretching his muscles with a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Donnie, for getting this set up."

"Anytime. I'm just glad it worked out so well." Donnie reached over and snagged the laptop. "I can't believe it turned out to be something so simple."

"Simple..." Leo decided that Don's definition of simple was slightly different from his own. Donnie gave him a sheepish look, as if realizing the same thing. "Well, considering that all the other results I was getting suggested drugs and surgery, I'd say being able to do an acupressure massage to lessen the pain is simple."

"True." Giving his arms one final stretch, Leo looked behind him at Splinter's blanketed doorway. "You think we should check on them?"

"They'll be fine," Donnie assured, trying to fit the laptop on his lap while the taunt wire prevented him from doing so. "Mikey knows exactly what he's doing, and Raph won't cause Splinter any trouble."

"Yeah, okay." Leo's last word was swallowed up in a big yawn.

"Besides," Donnie added as he he gave his older brother a smile, "Mikey isn't the only one looking tired."

"Mmmph," Leo agreed intelligently as he rubbed his face with both hands. "I better go wash up before I get any more tired. You need anything?"

"Na, I'm good." Donnie gave up on trying to get the laptop in his lap and finally plunked in on the floor and scooted closer to it. "I'm going to pull some stuff off the net then wrap this up."

"All right." Leo pushed himself up and ambled toward the washroom. "I'll help you get the pillows and blankets out when I'm done."

"Thanks," Donnie called over his shoulder, already typing a mile a minute.

Once in the washroom Leo plunked the designated wash pail under the pipe and started it filling up while he pulled off his pads, wraps, mask and sword harness. Dipping a finger into the bucket, he decided the lukewarm temperature was good enough and shut off the valves. He hurried through his wash routine, anxious to find out from Raph and Mikey the moment they came out of the room if the acupressure treatment had helped Splinter.

When Leo made his way back to the main lair fifteen minutes later, his equipment bundled up in one hand, ninjaken harness in the other, Donnie was still sitting by the main entrance. The laptop was closed, a thick book was in his lap and he was coiling the internet cord around his hand and elbow. Leo walked over to him, glancing around.

"Raph and Mike?" He asked.

"Not out yet," was the reply.

Leo glanced over at Splinter's room, shifting on his feet. But Don had been right before and it probably wouldn't do any good to barge into the room just yet. To distract himself, Leo glanced at the book in Don's lap, where it was open to the far back of the book and had a page full of Don's tight handwriting. "What's that?"

"I wrote down a list of foods and ingredients that can be migraine triggers," Donnie explained as he finished tying up the cable roll and slid it onto his shoulder. He flipped the book around and held it up to show Leo. "I figured we can all go through it so we know what to watch out for around Master Splinter and figure out which ones he's okay with and which ones he'll need to avoid."

"Mmmm," Leo skimmed the list, surprised at the extensiveness of it. "This... seems like a lot."

"I decided to be safe rather than sorry. It was such a pain, to tell you the truth; I couldn't find everything in one location." Don closed the book and tucked it under his arm. He grabbed the laptop as he stood up and headed for the couch. "We can probably shorten the list by figuring out things he's already had without any reaction."

"Like tea." Leo followed his brother over and laid his equipment on the floor next to the couch, careful to prop up his blades against the side so everyone could clearly see where they were and not trip over them accidentally. "Splinter's always drinking that."

"Yeah, stuff like that."

Donnie put his stuff down against the wall while Leo moved the tattered training dummy and together they shifted the coffee table aside. Once done with clearing out their sleeping space, both turtles headed for the battered plastic bin that they'd been using to hold the blankets and pillows that they had managed to scavenge from their old lair.

Filling their arms up with the pillows and blankets, Leo and Donnie headed back to the couch where they started spreading the bedding out. With only three pillows among themselves, the others going to Splinter, it was an unspoken consent among the brothers that Mikey got the couch. They dropped the pillows on the floor and Donnie helped Leo spread out the blankets, one for padding the other for warmth, next to the couch.

As they were finishing up, the patter of feet alerted them to Mikey and Raph's walking across the lair. Leo watched them approach, the relaxed set of Raph's shoulders giving him hope. Donnie fetched his laptop and dropped down on his claimed spot on the far left as they came within conversation range. He unstrapped his bo staff harness and laid it on the floor next to him with the staff still in it.

"Well?" Leo tried to bridle his eagerness.

"Out like a light," Mikey reported with a tired but satisfied smile. "Was still speaking Japanese without realizing it, but out like a light now."

Leo looked at Raph who was throwing himself onto the blankets in front of the couch and asked, "He's feeling better?"

Donnie piped up at the same time. "So it worked? What did you do?"

"Oh yeah," Raph bunched his pillow up. "Mikey and I took turns triggering the points and getting him to drink some more of his ginger tea."

"It took at least ten minutes and it seemed to actually get worse for a bit," Mikey picked up, flopping over the back of the couch and letting out a big yawn. "But then he stopped curling up and holding his head. I'm pretty sure he'll be able to go to sleep soon."

"That's great!" Leo snatched up his ninjaken harness before one of Mikey's wiggling feet could knock into a handle. "Finally something we can do for him."

"Hey, where'd my Gameboy-" Mikey started to ask, peeking under his blanket and around the couch.

Donnie interrupted him, waving the Gameboy in the air to get his attention. "Didn't want it getting stepped on when we were making the beds, or sat on afterwards."

"Thanks bro." Mikey snatched it up before pulling the blanket over himself, arms sticking out as he turned the device back on.

"Dunno about you guys, but I'm beat." Raph gave one final stretch, then slid his sais out of his belt and tucked them under his pillow before pulling off his mask and rolling onto his stomach, pulling his blue blanket over him. "Night."

"Night," Leo replied, the others echoing him. He sat down next to Donnie, who was absently pulling his own pads and mask off while he read something on his laptop screen. Leo set his equipment on the floor and took a minute to pull his swords halfway out of their sheath, one after the other, to check the blades before setting them next to him within easy reach.

"I'll get the lights." Donnie finally finished reading on his laptop and closed the lid, setting the computer aside as he stood up. He went to the nearby pillars and flicked a switch to turn out the few lights that they'd managed to get set up. The lair plunged into darkness, except for the odd faint blue glow here and there from the walls and pillars around the lair as well as the light from Mikey's Gameboy.

"Thanks, Don," Leo said softly as he slid into his blankets and let his eyes close. He heard Donnie crawl into his own set of blankets.

The soft sounds of Mikey's handheld game helped fill the silence and within minutes it started lulling Leo to sleep. He cracked an eye open to see that Raph was already out, his arms wrapped around his pillow he was starting to snore into it. Leo smiled, knowing that if Mikey was playing Roaring King Kong Battle Raph would still have managed to fall asleep.

Mikey himself was slouched on the couch, eyes drooping. One foot rested on the back of Raph's shell while the other one was stretched out to maintain contract with one of Don's feet. Leo closed his eyes and snuggled into his blanket more before rolling onto his side, thumping his shell lightly against Don's. Don mumbled something into his pillow and gave him a sleepy shove in response. Leo just snuggled more deeply into his blanket and sighed in contentment.

* * *

**Personal Note**: And finished! At least with this one shot. Whew, I actually had to rewrite the beginning of this part three or four times before I finally was able to figure out what the characters wanted. Thank you for reading!

I haven't been able to find a source online that gives a nice image or list of acupressure points for headaches. If you know of one, do let me know! My sister and I learned ours from a book titled "_Living Pain Free with Acupressure_" by Dr. Devi S. Nambudripad, which has a number of different point sets for different conditions. If you do get it (it is available on Amazon I believe), you might want to get an anatomy book too unless you already understand words like "medial", "cubital", "ulnar" or "distal." That or have your mobile device handy.

My family also uses a Red LED therapy light to stimulate the pressure points. For more information do a google search for "Photonic Health Red LED light" and you should find the Photonic Health website on the first result.


End file.
